ls911

Greetings to all,

I have done a search and it seems that it is not that serious of a problem having the RMS leak. I also understand that it has a higher rate of occurence on low mile cars.
I purchased my 2001 in October 06 with 11,800 miles. The low miles, one owner with excellent (overdone) service records (oil change every year, several brake fluid changes) was a big + for me. I have put approx 500 miles since I bought it and plan on driving this car. Winter, though, has forced me to store it for now.
During late fall, after a fabspeed cold air intake install, I test started thee car, let it sit in place for a few minutes and shut it off. The next day I noted several spots of oil by the RMS area, I cleaned up the spots and they did not return. Before the roads got bad I was able to drive it another 150 miles or so during a few weeks of time. No leak to be seen.
During the last couple of months I have started it a couple of times and let it run for about 5 minutes each time, no leaks noted.
Yesterday I decided to start it, let it idle a few minutes again and turned it off. This morning the oil spots were back on the floor.
Whats up with that? Is this normal for a RMS leak?
I would love to drive it around again and see if it comes back but the roads are ice.

Thanks for any insight or comments on this, enjoy the games today!

C4CRNA

Stop!! You're starting the car and letting it run for 5 minutes and then shutting it off is a very harmful practice. Use a battery maintainer if you are afraid of running the battery down.

ls911

Ok, done deal. I will stop and am glad I did it only a couple of times. Why so bad?

Thanks Maurice

ls911

I just got finished with an advanced RMS search. Found lots and lots more info than on my original non advanced search (more than I care to read).
Ii is now clear to me that it has been beaten to death and a high percent of Porsche owners are victims of it.
So, at this point I am not going to worry about it and simply keep an eye on it.
It is a bit odd that the oil spots have come, gone and come back again (?)

JDSStudios

1. Has the RMS been replaced before?
2. Do you have the latest generation seal?
3. What type of oil are you using?

ls911

The car has had the intermediate shaft seal, bearing cover and bolts (updated) replaced at 7000 miles in 2005 (now at 12,000 miles). No RMS (could be same oil leak again?)
900-123-106-30 alum seal ring
900-123-147-30 seal ring 27 x 32

5/40 mobil

JDSStudios

I had the RMS replaced on mine in May 2006, and P dealer told me a new generation seal
was out. Why not take it to a P dealer and let them take a look?
Please let us know what went on.
John

ls911

Thanks John, will follow up on that when the winter loosens its grip

Ludwig

JDSStudios

Where are you?

ls911

Spokane Wa.
Will add to Avatar

C4CRNA

Why Bad? When you first start your car thats when a lot of the wear happens. Oil is not up to temperature, oil is still in the sump and not lubricating all the parts for the first few seconds after starting. It will take 10 minutes of driving just to get your car up to the operating temperature.During this time when the engine is cold fuel/water vapor will creep past the rings and seep into the oil. This will only be reversed after some time at operating temperatures and the contaminants will be burned off. So next to starting car for 5 minutes short trips are a bad thing also as the car doesn't warm up properly.If the metal around the RMS doesn't get to expand as it would at normal operating temps I could see this causing a small leak.

JDSStudios

It states right in the manual to NOT warm it up by idling. It states to start the car,
and drive right the way. The only thing to watch for, is not to high rev until warm.
I wouldn't be surprised if you were creating hot spots in several parts of the engine, by idling when cold.

On the same token, I picture a much more, all around uniform warm up, when you
drive away immediately (slowly at first, of course)

And what is the point of having a (badly) warmed up engine, but
cold tires and a cold transmission?
You would still have to (EDIT: "should") drive smooth and slow for the first while, anyway.

Why go against what the engineers that designed the car recommend
right in the manual?
John

JDSStudios

PS:
and about the Oil Temperature, do not worry, the synthetic oil (Mobil 1 here) is
perfectly fine all the way down to minus 40 Celcius.

Jake Ok

So are you saying that when you first start the car cold and its idling above 1000rpm I should NOT warm it a litlle till the idling is back to normal position at about 900rpm.

Are you positive???

pat056

I would say yes. I've always heard it's best to start any car and drive off, not letting it idle. I just insure I keep the car between 3000-3500 rpms for the 1st 5 minutes, the no more than 4,000 rpms until the coolant temperature is close to it's correct operating temp. I also make sure I don't run the rpms too low when it's cold, i.e. I keep it NLT 3,000 rpms. I just believe it's better to baby the motor until it's warm. Also, in the cold, it takes longer for the oil to get to it's optimal operating temp.
My M3 used to have a shift light that directed you where to shift until the engine got warm.
I can't state song and verse of where I've read all of this, but I thinks it's important.